


d'you have a car, d'you have an empty seat?

by odst



Series: all the kids in your clique were pretend [3]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: M/M, RVB17 inspired, Time Loop, Time Travel, breaking time, cheating death, wash hates command
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 21:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18352331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odst/pseuds/odst
Summary: “Don’t move,” York says, but Wash stands up anyways.“What. . ?”“I saiddon’t move,”York hisses, & Wash turns his head slightly, as if trying to get a look at who’s holding him at gunpoint.“York?”“Hands up, Recovery.”





	d'you have a car, d'you have an empty seat?

**Author's Note:**

> hey! this is a continuation of _i'm right back where i started_ so i recommend you read that before you read this! reading the fic before that in this series isn't required, but it can help make some more sense when it's mentioned near the end of this fic! i hope you enjoy!

It’s mainly a game of waiting, when it comes to Recovery One. York hasn’t been able to talk to Wash since he was released from armor lock, half dead, when he got shot (fucking South, always somehow managing to drag someone closer to death than they needed to be), & he was worried about that. Just because they used to be friends didn’t mean Wash wouldn’t kill him- or would it? York doesn’t know anything about Wash’s days as a recovery agent, he’d been following Carolina around, & North had only stuck around with Wash until South’s demise.

From what he’s deduced, he’s the only one who remembers, since Texas doesn’t- or is that an AI thing? Delta doesn’t remember either.

Footsteps break him out of his thoughts, & he ducks behind the wall, a discarded piece of armor several feet in front of him- the piece containing his Recovery beacon. York hears walking around the area, & as he expected, the recovery agent doesn’t bother to check their corners. The grey & yellow armor is different than the last time he’d seen it, but that’s what happens when there’s armor changes over 7 years. Washington wanders past the armor, at first, heading past to a different area, as if searching for something.

Wash stops several feet away from where the armor is, & he stares at the empty spot for a minute. After that, he walks back over to the discarded piece of armor, crouching down & picking it up. His back is still to York, & York raises his BR, & advances, keeping it trained on Wash’s back.

“Don’t move,” York says, but Wash stands up anyways.

“What. . ?”

“I said _don’t move,”_ York hisses, & Wash turns his head slightly, as if trying to get a look at who’s holding him at gunpoint.

“York?”

“Hands up, Recovery.” It takes him a minute, but Wash sighs & puts his hands up, & Delta helpfully assesses the situation without York even asking, the readout scrolling across his HUD.

York isn’t sure how to go about this. Does he just ask Wash? But if he asks, _what_ does he ask? He’s supposed to be dead & Wash is supposed to come ‘clean up’ like Project Freelancer’s fucking janitor &-

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Wash says casually, & York’s mouth goes dry. He still can’t think of what to say, & Wash slowly turns to face him. Wash nods to where he’d originally gone- the empty space a little bit aways.

“That’s where I found you. You were killed & Delta was left with you, for some reason, &-”

“Not all of us were lucky enough to escape the project, Wash. You’re practically supposed to be dead too, a bullet through the neck isn’t something you’re supposed to _survive.”_ It’s the first thing that comes to mind, & York cringes. The whole _’oh yeah I was dead but I know you got shot in the throat- by the way that was partially my fault since I gathered the rest of us that were dead & we were just hanging out watching you & Carolina do shit’_ didn’t seem like it was the type of thing you could just casually say.

“What? How do you know I got shot?” York ignores that, & lowers his BR. Delta manifests a hologram, & the AI entertains the question.

“My records indicate that Agent Washington has not sustained any such injury. Are they wrong?” Delta says curiously, & Wash ignores Delta.

“York?” York tries to go through this in his head, what are they gonna do? Are they going to fix everything or does York have to die again? Where are they going to go- what about everyone else? North’s still-

York cuts that thought off. He’s not going to think about any of this shit just yet he’s going to address the here & now, starting with Wash. “What, Wash?”

“How are you alive?” Wash spits, & it’s hard to tell how he feels about it. It doesn’t _sound_ like Wash is mad that he’s alive, but that doesn’t mean he knows anything about how Wash is feeling & thinking.

“Just a little bit of. . . luck,” He says it uneasily, & Delta huffs. Delta knows what he knows, now, the switching the guns & time travel & _dying._

“Agent York declined to educate me on this situation-”

“God, D, we really going by full titles now? Look-”

“I think it would’ve helped your odds of resulting in a positive outcome to the situation, one in which you kept your _life._ Agent Washington, if you could shed some light on this anomaly, I would be more than capable of running simulations to find our best course of action.” Delta says with a tone of finality, & Wash, for a moment, seems just like he had been before Epsilon.

“I, uh- I’m not taking sides in this.”

“Recovery One, this is Command, what is the status of Agent York?” The way both of them kinda stop is indicative enough that they hadn’t remembered command.

“Uh. KIA.”

“Status of the Delta AI?” Wash side eyes Delta.

“Present?”

“Recovery One, please inventory all armor components before you decommission it.” York doesn’t really remember this part, but he remembers how disoriented he was after he first died, resorting to following Wash around, so it makes plenty of sense that he couldn’t remember- he hadn’t heard much of anything, caught up in the fog of _‘I’m dead? I can’t be dead.’_

Wash is silent for a moment, & York wonders what he’s thinking. Being a mind reader would be kinda cool, or useful sometimes, probably. “Recovery One, please acknowledge last directive.”

“Roger that, Command. Recovery One, out.” Wash says with a sigh, & his shoulders sag.

“I forgot how fucking _annoying_ they are,” Wash huffs, & York cracks a smile.

“Yeah, huh?”

They manage something, after all, it hadn’t been the first time Wash had faked someone else’s death for Command, except this time it wasn’t going to be something Command had double crossed him with- York, for all intents & purposes, was dead.

“So. . . you remember?” Wash asks, when he’s finished helping York resecure the discarded armor piece that brought him there.

“Yeah, obviously, I didn’t just suddenly learn to dodge bullets at super speed,” York rolls his eyes, & they both have their visors depolarized, & Wash frowns at York.

“You know. . . Carolina, she-”

“I don’t want to talk about Carolina, okay?” York cuts him off. He doesn’t want to think about Carolina right now, because he loves her, although it’s more in a friendly way now, & it’s been years. He’s over her & he’s said the things he had to say although most of the time Carolina couldn’t hear him, & it was over & done with. No use beating a dead horse.

Wash opens his mouth to speak, but they’re on the same connection & he’s cut off before he could try to talk to York about anything Carolina related- which they were _not_ doing. York was not going to get all emotional & in his feelings & have a heart to heart with Wash right now.

“Recovery One, this is Command, we have a level one distress signal, immediate response necessary.” It takes York by surprise, but then he figures it out- North. God, he hopes North isn’t dead, York might actually cry because _he_ was the one who kinda helped North when North died, & dying alone (or, first realizing you’re dead & being unable to interact with anyone) was a horrible experience.

“Alright, send me the coordinates,” Wash says firmly, & York decides to poke at Delta’s hologram in order to distract himself, the green figure just floating a few inches from his shoulder. Delta swats at his hand as if they could actually touch each other, whispering some pissed off comment to him, & it works, York stifles a laugh, & they wait for Wash to finish talking.

“So, North, huh?” York asks when Wash finishes talking to Command, & Wash makes a noncommittal sound.

“North _&_ South, actually.”

“Both of them?”

“Washington, if I may ask, what is the significance of both of the Dakotas’ recovery beacons being activated?” Delta speaks up, & Wash shrugs.

“Well, since only North died the first time, it could mean South’s dead. Not that I mind, fuck her.”

“What did she do?”

“Oh, you know, she just took you & shot me in the back, left me for dead, & told the Meta to go steal my armor equipment, so _nothing much,”_ It’s clear in Wash’s voice that he’s still bitter over it, & York doesn’t blame him, because York himself would not hesitate to kill Wyoming if given another chance, ‘cause fuck that guy.

“Did Command say they were dead?” York asks, instead, ‘cause he’d rather not talk about South’s bullshit that ultimately led to her death.

“Nah. Command never says shit, only ‘okay Recovery, we would like you to go retrieve this from your dead or dying coworker, hope you don’t die with our assets!’”

“We should get going.” Delta interrupts them, & York glances at the AI.

“Yeah, yeah, got it D, we’re leaving.”

When they arrive on the scene, it’s not hard to find North & South. The twins are arguing quite loudly, & both have a moderate amount of blood on them when they’re found, armor half discarded & North’s missing his helmet.

North’s propped himself up against a wall, sitting, & South’s laying on the ground next to a Warthog, yelling to her brother. York resists the urge to run over to North when he sees the other man, they’ll have plenty of time for catching up later, but when North turns his head & his gaze falls on York, York can almost see when North’s heart stops, before it kickstarts back into action.

“Well, look who it is,” South snarks when she sees Wash, & Wash scoffs at her.

“Shut the fuck up,” Wash walks over to North & squats in front of him, before starting a quiet conversation with the blonde.

York figures he’ll go hang out with South, & he goes to sit beside her. “So, what happened?”

“What do you _think?”_ She spits, & York rolls his eyes.

“You know I’m not the person who puts up with your bullshit, c’mon, what happened?”

South’s quiet for a moment, but then she speaks up. “I thought all this AI bullshit was over. We were _dead,_ York. Then, next thing you know, we’re back alive & my brother’s attached at the hip to his fucking AI again.”

“Did the Meta take Theta again? Attack you guys?” York presses, & South coughs, turning towards him, her visor depolarized, & York thinks she looks like shit.

“No, the fucking idiot ditched Theta a few days back, but that didn’t stop Maine from trying to kill us for the fucking computer program anyways. Didn’t stop us both from eating bullets, though,” South gestures to her left thigh, & York can see a bullet there, dried blood around it.

“Yeesh, I’m not jealous,” Is the only thing York can think to say, & South’s expression softens.

“At least. . . at least North is okay, right? Maybe more metal than he was before, but, he’s alive.”

York stares across at where Wash & North are still talking, & he nods. Yeah, this was good. This could’ve been worse, a _lot_ worse, & maybe the universe is throwing the ex-freelancers a bone, this time. North, South, & York, all three are alive & somewhat well, Theta is still around, D’s still around, this could work out. This could be _okay_.

It’s not until later that York & Wash get a private moment, & they talk about what the new plan is, where they’re going to go, what they’re going to do. York has a few ideas, one of them being “not dying” considering he’s not sure if death will take kindly to him cheating it twice. “I need to get to Blood Gulch, York.” Is what Wash says, & York’s first question is where the fuck is that?

“It’s a simtrooper outpost, the Reds & Blues- the ones I know, are there right now.”

“So, you’re telling me, you need to go to a simtrooper outpost?” York is dumbfounded, & he wishes that Delta was with him, but the AI was running York’s healing unit overnight for North.

“Yes.”

“& why, exactly, would we go there?”

“You don’t _have_ to come with me, York. It’s. . . it’ll only help Chrovos but you & North & South can leave, get out of here, you don’t have to stay here & continue doing this with me,” Wash says, & York feels bad, honestly. It was partially their fault the paradox happened, anyways, what with a half dead Wash somehow seeing ghosts, walking towards them, & getting shot.

“We’ll come with you. You need all the help you can get.” York says, & Wash glances down at him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, positive. We’ll wait for South & North to heal up some, & we’ll hammer out the plan, & then we’ll go.” York says it definitively, & Wash still seems uncertain, but he nods.

“Okay.”

After that, everything was a waiting game, passing the healing unit back & forth between South & North, & Wash is restless the entire time, continuously working himself exhausted. A joint effort from North & York gets him to chill, but that’s quickly replaced with Washington asking North where he left Theta.

North was awkward about it, trying to avoid it, but he eventually gave in, quietly telling Wash the address in which he left Theta, & no one was surprised when Wash left, although North was a bit anxious over it, which was plain to see even if he denied it to both his sister & his boyfriend.

Wash came back quickly, & North’s anxiety subsides after his reunion with Theta, & it’s almost like when they were back in the project, except now all four of them are AWOL & anything’s better than Project Freelancer.

“We need to come up with a plan,” Wash says casually, & everyone agrees, more or less.

“Maybe we can like. . . wait for a ride?” York offers, & North gives him a look.

“I don’t think we can just stick our thumbs out & catch a ride on just any old ship. They’re going to want identification.”

“Well, maybe we can just rejoin Freelancer. Pretend we’re giving back the AIs for a ride home,” South offers, & she’s shut down quickly by North.

“No, I don’t want to put Theta under the stress of that- & what if they assume that we are pretending, & they choose to kill us?”

“So, what do you propose then, genius?” She spits, & North raises a hand to scratch at the back of his head.

“Well, there’s a UNSC base nearby. . .”

“What, do you expect us to just steal a Pelican or some shit?” South mocks, but when there’s silence & all eyes are on her, she freezes.

“No way. No fucking _way_ are we stealing a Pelican from the UNSC.”

A few days later, South pouts in the back of the Pelican, while York scrambles to get them flying, Delta & Theta helping him. North & Wash are holding off the UNSC soldiers who are, as expected, completely pissed off that 4 random soldiers are taking their Pelican, & when York finally has it going, he radios to North & Wash- “Alright, time for lift off, if you don’t want a ride, you are free to stay behind with the enemies!”

The two scramble into the Pelican, & York maneuvers them out, & the adrenaline has him on a _very_ strong high. “Ladies & gentlemen, I’m York & I will be your pilot for for today, today we are on route to a lovely little dust bowl called Blood Gulch, & when we get there, I _will_ be accepting tips for my fantastic performance on flying this Pelican, & I hope you enjoy the ride.”

South groans at his bullshit, but North joins him up front, & they trade stories, ignoring Wash’s complaints at being sat with South.

It takes a little over a day to get to Blood Gulch from where they were, & it passes uneventfully, except for the fact that South & Wash _actually_ get along & they both get pissed off at York when he acts like a miracle has happened- which it _has,_ they’re getting along.

North entertains it, & when York kisses North- he can _actually_ touch his boyfriend now it’s none of that transparent, hard to manifest touching shit, it’s real, actual skin to skin contact & York’s over the moon about it- Wash & South both make disgusted noises, & everything is kind of perfect.

Delta flies the Pelican, Theta hangs out with him & they catch up & talk, & it’s peaceful. York almost dreads them landing in Blood Gulch, because he doesn’t want this good spell to end, but when they land, they all put their armor on, & Wash debriefs them before they even exit- they need to be wary of the Blue leader, because he’s actually apparently some god of tricks? Washington doesn’t go into too much detail for them, claiming they “had to see it to believe it”, but he does mention that the guy, Genkins, is a douchebag, so that makes the rest of them pretty much nod & understand.

“Alright. Sync,” Wash ordered, securing his BR to his back with the mag-lock system.

“Sync,” The other three soldiers replied, & they head out of the Pelican. Per Washington’s request, they’d landed on the cliffs surrounding Blood Gulch, & they’d make their way down into the canyon, rather than just landing in the canyon itself.

Wash goes down first, claiming he knows the Reds & Blues, & then South makes her way down after Wash gives her the go ahead, & North’s got his sniper rifle out, watching for anything down in the canyon, while York waits for South to get down to the bottom in order for him to go.

“Hey, uh, York, c’mere for a sec,” North says, & York just looks at his boyfriend.

“Why?”

“I just want you to come look at this,” North says casually, but his body language is anything but casual.

York takes the sniper rifle from North, & North pushes it to face one of the bases, & he nudges York. “Zoom in. Who is that?”

York zooms in, & who he sees is not who he expected to see anytime soon. “Holy shit, is that Texas?”


End file.
